Assange to run for Australian Senate

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is to run for the Australian Senate, Wikileaks has announced on Twitter.Assange, who is under house arrest in the UK pending possible extradition to Sweden, is entitled to pursue a senator role, Wikileaks said in a Twitter post on Saturday.

"We have discovered that it is possible for Julian Assange to run for the Australian Senate while detained," said the tweet. "Julian has decided to run."

Wikileaks announced in a further Tweet that it would be fielding a candidate to contest the House of Representatives seat of Labour prime minister Julia Gillard.

"We will also be fielding a candidate to run against Julia Gillard in her home seat of Lalor (Vic)," said the tweet.

In December 2010 Gillard announced that an Australian federal police investigation into Wikileaks's publication of US diplomatic cables had found the leak was legal under Australian law. However, Gillard called the publication of over 250,000 cables "grossly irresponsible".

"I know there are a number of people who are fans of Wikileaks," Gillard told a press conference at the time (video below). "Let me make it very very clear — I am not. This is a grossly irresponsible matter in my view. The release of all this documentation has been grossly irresponsible."